Wokingham Borough Connect
 Wheely good results for Cycle September
Last month was the annual Cycle September with Love to Ride and riders from Wokingham Borough logged a huge 50,000 miles - equivalent to twice round the world!
There were national and local prizes up for grabs and Wokingham resident, Julie, won £1,000 gift voucher for Berkshire Cycles. She said: “I took up cycling during the pandemic. I love cycling to work, whatever the weather (mostly!), and I'm so excited to have won such a fantastic prize!”
The second prize of £400 gift voucher still hasn’t been claimed - don’t forget to check your emails and claim your prizes.
The results for Cycle September are:
- 546 riders took part
- 13 per cent were new riders
- 50,000 miles were logged
- 6,545 kg of CO2 were saved - equivalent to charging nearly half a million smartphones
The business leaderboard results for first place in each category are:
- 2000+ Employees Oracle
- 500-1999 Employees Wood
- 200-499 Employees ECMWF
- 15-199 Employees Waingels School
- 10-14 Employees Yeldall Manor
- 7-9 Employees Sequans Communications
- 1-6 Employees Winnersh Parish Council
Congratulations to all our winners and look out for the next campaign, Winter Wheelers.
 Running sessions for women
Four months ago we launched 'Running Places', women's only running sessions funded by My Journey and delivered by Places Leisure Wokingham.
The sessions have successfully attracted a diverse group of participants, particularly within the 16 to 24 and 45 to 54 age ranges, with a significant number of participants reporting improvements in fitness and confidence.
The sessions are providing a safer and more enjoyable running environment, which has encouraged more women to participate regularly in running and related events and are reaching women who may have previously been less active or lacked the confidence to engage in regular physical activity.
There are a mix of membership types including pay as you go, so why not come and join what participants have noted as a welcoming and supportive environment with a sense of community and motivation. To take part, please visit our website for further information.
 News from our schools
The My Journey team’s school travel officer attended an assembly at Hawkedon Primary School, Lower Earley to present the school with their 'Good' level accreditation for their Modeshift STARS travel plan.
The school has completed 14 travel initiatives and six supporting initiatives for their accreditation, including taking part in Walk to School Week, Bikeability training and monitoring air quality.
The children also had plenty of suggestions of things that they could to encourage walking, cycling and scooting to school.
Two Wokingham Borough schools win Modeshift Regional Awards
The Hawthorns Primary School, Wokingham and Crosfields School, Shinfield have been chosen as the best primary and secondary school in Wokingham Borough at the Modeshift South East Regional Awards.
Both schools have achieved Very Good level accreditation with their school travel plans, and have worked very hard to promote active travel.
This is the second year in a row that The Hawthorns have won this award.
Congratulations to The Hawthorns and Crosfields schools. If your school would like to take part in Modeshift STARS then please contact us at myjourney@wokingham.gov.uk.
Bright ideas needed for high vis snapband logo
Next week (4 November) we will launch a competition for primary school children to design a logo for high vis snapbands.
Please check our website where the competition will be posted or look out on our social media pages.
 Halloween Bike Ride
With Halloween fast approaching, our active travel officer for cycling joined the Kidical Mass Halloween ride last Sunday, 20 October and enjoyed the Autumn weather and colours with little skeletons, witches and even Batman and Robin.
The October weather didn’t stop us cycling our bikes, using the local cycle infrastructure around Arborfield. Thanks to the help of some adult marshals, we cycled for just over three miles making plenty of noise with our bells and our Halloween playlist.
Following our ride we all had some well deserved homemade Halloween biscuits and a hot drink at The Stables Café, Arborfield.
If you are interested in getting your children to have more fun cycling, check out the Kidical Mass website for more details.
They organise fun family friendly bike rides, you don’t need to be able to cycle a pedal bike to participate, you could come along on your balance bike or scooter, trikes or in a cargo bike. What’s important is you come and have some fun.
If you are interested in trying the route for yourself you can find a link to the route here.
Look out for the next Kidical Mass ride which will be Christmas themed taking a circular route starting and finishing at Elms Field Playground, Wokingham.
 Bus shelter replacement programme
We currently have 20 bus shelters that are managed and maintained by an external company. This not only saves us money on maintenance and installation costs but we also receive a proportion of the income made by any advertising on these shelters.
The most recent contract for these shelters has finished and we retendered this opportunity earlier this year. This contract has now been taken over by a new company.
Most of the bus shelters covered by this contract are now old, in poor condition, and in need of replacement. The existing supplier will remove their shelter first (reusing them elsewhere, where possible) and then our new supplier will replace these shelters with new, modern, environmentally friendly and sustainably produced shelters.
Some of these shelters will also benefit from further enhancements such as a green or solar roof or an electrical advertising screen.
The replacement programme starts next week (4 November) and a full list of the shelters being replaced along with the timelines can be found on our website.
 Upcoming activities and events
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Running Places for Women is a free weekly outdoor running group for women aged 16+ of all abilities to build confidence and fitness. There's a 3km and a 5km route, both starting and finishing at Wokingham Leisure Centre.
- Free Balance Bike Club at FBC in Finchampstead (Wednesdays)
- Free Balance Bike Club at Woodford Park Leisure Centre in Woodley (Thursdays)
- Learn to Ride sessions (£10) at FBC in Finchampstead (Wednesdays)
- Learn to Ride sessions (£10) at Woodford Park Leisure Centre in Woodley (Thursdays)
- FREE Dr Bike checks at Woodford Park Leisure Centre (Thursdays from 7 November)
For more information on our regular cycle training and activities, visit our website. or follow us on our social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and X (Twitter).
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